A Night Off
by Panamint
Summary: Some heroes are very serious about protecting their cities on Halloween night. Others, not so much.


**_A Night Off_**

**DISCLAIMER: As usual, I own nothing here. I'm not even going trick-or-treating, so those ten giant bags of candy sitting in the pantry right now don't belong to me either... unfortunately... (cry)**

**Anyway, sorry if this is a piece of junk. I wanted to make it longer and such but didn't have the time while simultaneously trying to finish a five-page paper on communalism in America for my World Cultures class on Monday. (Writing this fic was way more fun, by the way.) And the good news is, I'll be writing a sequel next Halloween since I didn't get to put everything I wanted into this sucker. **

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"What are you doing?"

Robin jumped, his dark hair flying in every direction as he whipped his head around to see Batgirl standing a few yards directly behind him. She looked mildly irritated behind the cowl.

Somewhat guiltily, Robin turned back around.

"Nothin'," he said.

He could practically _feel_ her eyes narrowing, even as he stared down at the bulky bag in his lap.

"Now why don't I believe that?"

Robin squeezed his eyes shut. He was busted—big time.

Batgirl slowly began to walk towards him.

"Let's see…" she started. Robin recognized that tone. He was in for it now. "Batman is clear across town… no big crime waves to take care of… it's Halloween, not to mention_ great_ weather for trick-or-treating…"

Batgirl stopped mere inches behind him. Robin clenched the bag shut with his fist. Maybe he could convince her that he'd stopped a jewel theft and that this was the stolen stuff he'd recovered…

"You're not _really_ trying to tell me that you stayed up here on this boring rooftop doing nothing all night, are you?"

She was suddenly squatting next to him, a knowing twinkle in her eyes.

"You did it again, didn't you?"

"Well what else was I supposed to do?!" Robin finally exploded. "Nothing was happening, I already had a costume on, so why not cash in on the one day of the year they're giving out free candy?!"

"Meaning you went out trick-or-treating."

"Same as every year…"

"And same as every year, I want my cut to keep quiet. Fork it over, Wonder Boy."

Heaving a martyred sigh, Robin wrenched the bag open and plunked it down between them. Batgirl swung her legs out straight, pointing the toes elegantly before letting her legs dangle over the edge of the roof like Robin's were.

"Show-off," the boy grumbled. He watched with some measure of despair as the Masked Maiden thrust her gloved hand into the bag and pulled out a fistful of mini Snickers bars and Kit-Kats. He pouted at Batgirl, hoping to get his candies back. She failed to notice over the sound of her own chewing and lip-smacking, so Robin once again resigned himself to this yearly injustice and helped himself to a Tootsie Roll.

After a few minutes, Batgirl finished up the candy she'd taken and declared, "You know, we really shouldn't do this. You going around trick-or-treating in your Robin outfit every year might give our secret identities away. Well, at least _yours_."

"I notice that 'concern' doesn't stop you from stuffing your face," Robin observed coolly.

"Besides, it's kind of like stealing, isn't it?" she went on, once again ignoring the now incredibly irate thirteen-year-old. "I mean, those people out there giving you candy think you're some sweet innocent little kid. If we're lucky, none of them even _suspect_ that you could slam them into the far wall and steal every bit of sugar they've got."

"I spend 365 days a year protecting this city, and then most of my free time goes to training to make sure I can spend the _next_ 365 days protecting it. I think I deserve a little payback."

"And here I thought we went out busting heads every night out of the pure goodness of our hearts. Silly me."

The two teens sat, slowly eating away at Robin's haul. The city was quiet that evening, especially for Halloween. Usually, the opportunity to run around in crazy costumes and masks without being noticed was a dream come true for Gotham's crooks.

Not that they were complaining or anything.

"You get a real nice view from up here," Batgirl commented, seemingly at random. She blew a bubble with her strawberry-flavored gum. "I have to hand it to you—you picked a great spot to slack off in."

"Hey, we're not slacking off. This is a nice neighborhood. Could be attacked _any _minute."

"You know something? You could be right about that… what else have you got in that bag?"

Robin sighed and handed her a lollipop.

_**The End**_

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******Yeah, yeah, I know--not a masterpiece, but I wanted to give you people a little something for Halloween since it's taking me so long to update _The Narrow Fence_.**

**Happy Halloween!! Don't forget, the Great Pumpkin comes tonight! ;)**


End file.
